brinley



Mlch 8, 1932 c. c, BRlNl- EY TRAVERSING HOIST l Filed March 2s. l19,28

3 Sheets-Sheet ATTORNEYS March 8, v1932; c. c. BRINLEY TRAvERsING HoIsT Filed March 23, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNyENToR A'TORNEYS March 8, 1932.

c. c. laFuNLl-:Y`

TRAVERSING HOIST Filed March 23, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet- I5V INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Yvo Patented Mar. 8, 1932 UVITED PATENT- OFFICE CLARENCE c. BRINLEY, orY HUDSON'NEW. YORK, AssIGNOR fro GrrFoRn-woon GOM-V rANY, or' HUDSON, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF` NEW YORK yfrRiMrrmfsINe HoIs'r This invention relateslto traversing hoists of the trolley bucket type,A` and` among other objects, -aims to improve the opera-1` `trolley `is 'accelerated and stopped without injury to the various parts and without'dantion of such buckets, particularly when suddenly started and stopped. 'y

Referring to the vdrawings showing a pre ferred embodiment of the invention,-

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of ,a trolley embodyingthe invention, a part of the monorail whichsupports it also being shown;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the trolley, the

monorail being in crossse'ction';

Fig. 3 is an elevation, on a greatly reduced Y scale, of a materials-handling plant employ-V ing a dumping hoist bucket, which is supportedjfrom the trolley of Fig. 1'; and Fig. 4 is a vertical section substantially yon line4-4ofFig.1.` i Y In the Operation of trolley buckets such as are described in the WLVH. Towne application Ser. blo-146,890, iled November 8, 1926, and assigned to the assignee of this application, a reversible trolley Vengine actuates the trolley rope which is secured to thefopposite ends 'of the trolley.v When the motor visV suddenly started, the trolley rope, which hasbeen at rest, suddenly starts traveling, and jerks the trolley, from which the bucket is suspended by the hoist rope. The bucket when empty may weigh aton or more, and may hold upwards of a ton oit' coal, sand, gravel or lother heavy material. This'heavylnas's, together' with the trolley, must Vbe accelerated rapidly,

i in order to move the materials from one part of the plant to'another with'all possible-speed.

Butthe inertia of the loaded bucketv and the trolley is very great, and puts a heavy momentary strain 'onthe trolley-rope,` the sheaves l which support and guideit', and the connections betweenthe ends'of the rope' and the trolley. In most"Y installations, therek is some slack in the trolley'rope, and when the bucket is suddenly started/and stopped, thisslack may be suicient tov vcause the rope to jump I out of the grooves of the drums'iof the -trol- .Sil

ley engine unit as shown .in the Harding application Ser. No} 194,842`iled May 27, 1927,l assigned` las aforesaid) *which would makeoperation impossibleuntilthe ropelwas replaced. TheVV lpresent invention provides lresilient connections .between the ends of the trolley rope and the trolley, sothat there is no undue strain on-said connections, and the pended, a dumpibucket 12'(ofthe construc-v Y i tion of the A. C. Bennett PatentA No.. 1,7 41,123 datedvDec. 24, 1929), a -hoist'ropel for suspending the bucket from-the tr'olley'wvhile permitting travel of the bucket with the trolley, a trolley rope; 14, a series of material holding :bins 15,. and an` engine house 16 in which the'hoist engine 'and trolley 'engine (not shown) are operated. The bucket re.- Y

ceives its load by gravity, preferably as Vshown in the'C. M. Root Patent No. 1,808,972Y dated June 9, 1931, and dumpsit automatically after descending into one of the bins so far that the'tr'ip pads contact with the material' to unlatch its bottom, as disclosed in .said A. C. Bennett patent. f .v

To cause the trolley to travel in Opposite directions as the reversible trolley engine is operated,the ends of the trolley rope are con-v nected to the opposite ends of the trolley, and its intermediate portion is driven by the trolley engine. For reasons explained above, the

vtrolleyrope is resiliently connected to the tending through a tubular housingV 19, whose ends are preferably closed by caps 20, and enclosing a pair of coil springs 21. lThe outer ends of thev coil springs ypreferably;abut the caps 20,--while the inner ends of saidsprings 'abut two disks xed to .rodf18'y at`7such pointsfthat. the springs 'are `not compressed rvmaterially when theV trolley is at rest.-l Thus a suddenajerk on the trolley.' rope 'willqcom- Vpress one spring or the other,without affect? ing the spring at `the opposite end. vThe resistance offered by compression of agspring so,VV

"i horizontally.

21 is found to be ample to obviate the operating difficulties explained above. Obviously, other arrangements of the springs and rod are possible.

As described and claimed in said XV. H. Towne application, the trolley shown is equipped with spring buffers to check and stop any oscillations of the bucket in the vertical plane of the monorail which are setup by sudden starting and stopping' oi' the trol.- ley. These spring buiiers are interposed between the bucket and the trolley and act when the trolley and bucket are close together, which is their usual positi-on when traveling As disclosed in said W. H. Towne application, the trolley here carries a frame F at each end including two uprights 23 and a connecting bar 24 at the lower ends of uprights 23. Two upright rods 25 are carried by the two uprigl'its 23 and long springs 26 arecarried on rods 25, bearing at their upper ends against abutments, and at their lower ends against sleeves 27 which are slidable through the connecting` bars 24 and are fast at their lower ends to striker bars 28, against which the bucket strikes upon being elevated. AsV the striker bars 28 are transverse relative to the monorail, while the bail of the bucket is normally in the plane of the monorail, said bail will strike both striker bars simultaneously, or if the bucket is swinging, the bail will strike first one bar and then the other, thus compressing the springs 26 which quickly absorb the energy of the swinging bucket and bring it to rest. Because of the inertia of the bucket when the trolley is started, and equally because of the momentum of the bucket when it is attempted to stop the trolley, the bucket will move relative to the trolley, lagging behind thel trolley at the start, and swinging ahead of it when the trolley is stopped. This pendulum-like swinging of the bucket is very quickly dampened by the spring buffer construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2,-an important result when it is realized that were the swinging` not checked, the bucket when lowered would dash itself against the inside walls of the bins, with serious injury probably resulting.

It has been discovered that when'the spring buffers as shown in the W. H. Towne application are combined in the same structure with the resilient trolley rope connections previously described, much improved operation results which can onlybe attributed to the conjoint actionof both spring shock absorber mechanisms. The yresilient initial pull of the trolley rope does not create nearly so pronounced a tendency to swing the bucket as does a relatively inflexible` connection between the trolley rope trolley. Vhat small swinging is imparted to the bucket is immediately checked. And when stopping the bucket, there is the same conjoint, coi-operative action of the parts, both the horizontal and the vertical springs aiding in a smooth, easy stop of the bucket in a minimum of time, and without continual swinging.

At one end of the monorail, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, or at both ends as will be understood,.there are abutments or stops29, preferably secured to the monorail and extending below it in the path of a bumper plate 3() carried` by either or both ends ofA rod 18. As shown, the abutments or stops 29 are bifurcated (Fig. l) to permit the trolley rope to vpass through them without contact, which would quickly wear out the rope. When the trolley reaches either end of the monorail, or some point beyond which it should not travel, theA bumper plate will strike the stop 29, thus compressing the spring 21 which then serves as a buiier spring', cushioning the shock. Any

tendency of the bucketto swing at this time -will be checked by the `:trame carried springs 26, which again co-act with the resilient trolley rope connection.

Y The present application is an improvement on a co-pending application filed by me May 12,1927, Serial No. 190,933.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to? the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly, since they may beemployed advantageously in various combinations and sub-combinations.

What I claim is 1. In a'traversing hoist, the combination of a trolley; a trolley rope secured at the ends to the trolley 'a' hoist bucket suspended from the trolley by a hoist rope and having a sheave movable along the hoist rope when the trolley travels; a buffer depending from the trolley and engaged by the bucket to check such swinging thereof as is set up by starting and stopping; and yielding connections between the trolley rope ends and the trolley to accelerate or decelerate the trolley smoothly.

2. A traversing hoist comprising, in combination, a trolley: a rope connected to opposite ends of the trolley; a pair of springs carried bythe trolley and connected with the rope so Athat the strain of a sudden jerk on the rope is largely absorbed by one of the springs; a hoist rope carried by sheaves on the trolley; a bucket suspended from the trolley by the hoist rope and having a sheave to travel over said rope as the trollev travels; and a resilient buffer mounted on the trolley and engaging the bucket when elevated subiacent the trolley so as'to dampen swings of the bucket in the vertical plane of its line of travel.

3. YAA traversing hoist'comprising, in combination, a-trollev.; a trolley rope: a resilient structure carried by the trolley'and connected to the trolley rope at its ends so as to minimize the strain'of sudden starting andstopping; and a stop adjacent the track on which the trolley travels and constructed and arranged to be engaged by the aforesaid resilient structure, Which then serves as a buffer.

4C. A traversing hoist comprising,rn combination, a trolley; a trolley rope; a rod eX- tending longitudinally of the trolley; a pair of coil springs surrounding the rod; a`hous ing on the trolley enclosing the rod and the springs; caps at opposite ends of the housing adjacent which the springs press; disks secured to the rod at intermediate points and providing abutments for the inner ends of the springs; connections between the trolley rope Y ends and the rod; the rod extendingoutside the housing at one end and carrying a bumper plate; and a stop fixed adjacent the track on Which the trolleytravels so as to be engaged f by the bumper plate when the trolley reaches one limit of its travel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aiixed my signature.

CLARENCE C. BRINLEY. 

